Three IBM i Advocates Elevated to Champion Status

May 21, 2012
Dan Burger

Jim Buck, Aaron Bartell, and Scott Klement have been added to the IBM Champions for Power System club in recognition of their efforts to help build awareness of the IBM i platform and RPG. The selections were made by IBM and were based on contributions to and impact on the Power Systems community.

Buck, Bartell, and Klement are standout performers in the IBM i community. They are well-known advocates for the IBM i platform and they are joining the seven who were named champions last fall–Trevor Perry, Jon Paris, Susan Gantner, Pete Massiello, David Gibbs, Roxanne Reynolds-Lair, and Brian May. All these Champions have an impact on Power Systems because of their belief in IBM i and their involvement in the IBM i community.

(Editorial comment: I don’t want to start a civil war, but there would be no Power Systems community if not for the IBM i community. And it deserves credit for that. No offense intended, AIX. I’m sure you have worthy champions, but IBM i blows you away when it comes to community. Can we just say it for what it is, please? A community is not based on simply who has a home there. It’s based on who participates and who has enthusiasm. Pardon me. Trevor Perry hijacked my keyboard there for a few seconds.)

Buck, Bartell, and Klement participate at a very high level. They have a lot of energy and enthusiasm and they bring that out in others.

Buck oversees an RPG curriculum at the Kenosha, Wisconsin, branch of Gateway Technical College, where students learn programmer analyst skills, Web programming, networking, and computer support services. He is well connected with organizations running their business on IBM i–he’s president of the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professionals Association–and he knows how to prepare students for the job market. If you want to know how to work with a college in your area to develop the skilled workers your company needs for the future, talk with Buck. He didn’t write the book on companies collaborating with colleges to develop a skills pipeline, but he did write one on RPG.

Bartell is one of the top RPG minds in the IBM i community. He works for Krengel Technology, an ISV devoted to IBM i-based products, and he is a frequent speaker at IBM i-focused conferences and local user group meetings. Bartell is obsessed with modern RPG and how it has a place in the modern IT environments, but he’s also fluent in many other programming languages and technologies. Two years ago, he launched an open source development project called RPGUI with the idea of simplifying the development of RPG Web interfaces. Along with Brian May (also a champion) and Justin Porter (recently elected to the COMMON board of directors), he started up the Young i Professionals group. He also blogs at www.mowyourlawn.com.

Klement is to RPG programming as pork is to sausage. That’s kind of a lame joke referencing his family’s business, but the point is Klement is a major ingredient in the current RPG and IBM i scene. He’s authored numerous books, hundreds of magazine articles, has a programming tips newsletter with one of our unnamed competitors, and is in demand as a trainer and educator. Among his many achievements are an iSeries Innovation Award, a best feature series award by the American Society of Business Publication Editors, and a Speaker of Merit award from COMMON. He has been involved with open source RPG projects for years and is the developer of several tools, which he makes available on a personal website. And, by the way, he is the IT manager and senior programmer for Klement’s Sausage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Future additions to the Champions list will come from self-nominations and nominations by proxy that are being accepted on the nomination website. As the nominations pile up, a committee within IBM will periodically evaluate them and make its selections based on the quality of the individual’s contributions and participation across a variety of community activities.

IBM Champions do not formally represent or speak on behalf of IBM and IBM employees are not eligible. They receive no compensation from IBM.